Seeing Cheng Shi sink into silence again, Zhen Xin smiled calmly. "What else do you want to know?"
"Too much — but none of it relates to your past. I'm more interested in the intel your History School has. But now isn't the ti for that.
The secret you want — I'll tell you after the trial ends. My word is good; you can relax.
Ti to get to business. You've stalled them long enough, but the longer this drags, the more those two will catch on.
Dragon King is easy — his reason for being here is similar to yours.
Long Jing is different. His obsession with a certain existence runs deeper. But I can handle him — provided I find out what happened on Mi Laozhang's end first."
When Cheng Shi ntioned "a certain existence," he watched Zhen Xin carefully. She didn't hide anything — just smiled casually, signaling she already knew.
Cheng Shi's brow shot up. So Zhen Xin hadn't co just for the Secret Peeping Ear — she'd also wanted to investigate "Yu Xi"!
"So does He truly exist?" Zhen Xin didn't voice the question — she mouthed it silently.
"Of course He exists." Cheng Shi was equally silent, pointing at the stage with absolute sincerity. "I thought I could change history. But I was wrong. History didn't change. He may have existed once — but now... He's dead."
One thing at a ti. Heart-to-heart was heart-to-heart. Trial was trial. Outside the trial, he accepted her as an ally. But before settlent, he'd keep his mouth sealed.
That said, Cheng Shi turned decisively and headed toward Mi Laozhang's position.
He didn't hide his path from Zhen Xin, nor did he use dice to vanish. The ssage was clear: if you're interested, follow .
Zhen Xin wasn't about to pass up this chance. Because she was certain the clown who'd just bared his heart... had lied again.
Yu Xi wasn't dead. He was definitely still alive!
And "He's still alive" was very likely the answer to this entire trial!
'Hear it to doubt; see it to believe.' But was Crown's death, witnessed firsthand, necessarily real?
No — what died was Cheng Shi. Not the truth!
So was this really a Silence trial? Based on its style, it seed more like a trial from her own Benefactor — the Fun God...
'Interesting. An Envoy of Deceit that she'd never heard of even after multiple audiences with the Fun God — and he seed to have a decent rapport with Cheng Shi?'
'How did he find Him?'
'The Tongue of Eating Lies? No — that tongue hadn't breathed a word when it was with her.'
'So was it the thing the clown already had on him?'
Zhen Xin shelved her questions and followed Cheng Shi toward the place that might hold answers.
Cheng Shi wasn't idle while leading the way. He kept trying to figure out who'd told Zhen Xin about "Yu Xi." The na's spread had been deliberate, but it was still limited to a few peak players. She'd most likely heard it from soone, not through the History School.
He thought and thought without an answer. Then Zhen Xin, noticing his perpetual frown, laughed gently from behind.
"I know what you're thinking. How about a quick-fire round? I'll trade another secret — an ordinary one. Deal?"
Cheng Shi didn't even turn. "What am I thinking?"
"Poison." Zhen Xin's answer was instant — as certain as if she lived inside his stomach.
"???"
Cheng Shi froze. Even his stride stuttered.
"Impossible." The word escaped before he could stop it. Then he frowned hard. He knew Poison well. Her path of "flattery" might change course, and the idea of her "selling him out" — after he'd personally introduced her to Aph Ros for her second faith — was patently absurd.
In her eyes, he wasn't just Cheng Shi. He was Yu Xi himself. As long as Poison wasn't stupid, she'd never—
'Wait.'
She would never tell an outsider. But what if the person in front of her... was "him"?
"..."
"Exactly as you suspected. Zhen Yi ran into Poison. And coincidentally, in that trial, she was performing as you. See — Fate is a funny thing sotis."
Cheng Shi's eyelid went haywire. "The one who bumped into Poison — it was really Zhen Yi?"
Zhen Xin smiled and deftly changed the subject.
"That's a second question.
I know you're not Him. I don't want to speculate on why you played Yu Xi in front of Aph Ros. I only want to know: how did you find Him?"
A spark ignited behind Cheng Shi's eyes.
'Done!'
All his groundwork had finally cented the "Yu Xi" identity.
Even though Zhen Xin had called out his lie, she didn't realize that the hundred-foot foundation beneath that lie was also lies. "Yu Xi" was a na he'd improvised during his push-and-pull with Brother Mouth. He had no idea what the real creation was actually called.
Maybe it had always been Crown. Or maybe Crown's mask?
It certainly wasn't "Yu Xi." And it definitely wasn't "Hee-hee Weirdo."
The real secret might already be in front of Mi Laozhang. But all Cheng Shi could tell Zhen Xin right now was:
"I didn't find Him.
Understand this: if He didn't want to be found, only the Fun God would know His location. So He found .
In a previous trial, He appeared suddenly and guided
toward the true nature of Void.
You should know what that ans — because this was originally your opportunity, Zhen Xin.
You know my past too, so I won't hide it: I suspect it was Zhen Yi's refusal combined with my future self crossing back that drew Yu Xi's gaze here."
"Your future self..." Zhen Xin frowned, seeming to accept it but still full of questions. "Was that really the future?"
"You could call it that. Or you could say he ca from another world — one similar to the place the Fate Chosen wants to go, but absolutely not a parallel world under the gods' watch.
Past and future were always just labels that Ti stuck on different evolutions. The difference is: now, the one sticking those labels...
Might be far more than one entity.
We've arrived. Let's finish the matter at hand first, and then I'll tell you so stories about Them.
Of course — beyond the one secret I promised you, every extra story costs extra.
But since you're a fellow sufferer, I'll give you half off."
"..."
...
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